The number of children living in poverty and without health insurance coverage in the Ocean State went up significantly last year, according to recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Many local child advocates blame federal changes to Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and the Child Tax Credit.
Paige Parks, executive director of Rhode Island Kids Count, spoke to morning host Luis Hernandez about what can be done to stop the increase in local child poverty.
Interview highlights
On what is causing the increase in child poverty in Rhode Island
Paige Parks: Some of the contributing factors could be the increase in inflation that has increased significantly off of the cost of housing in Rhode Island… When your cost of living increases, it creates additional pressures for families, which could impact how many kids are living in poverty. We also know that some of the programs that were helping children stay out of poverty during the pandemic also started to disappear.
On the consequences of an increase in uninsured Rhode Island children
Parks: Our youngest children have about 14 series of shots that they have for immunizations from birth. So young children (and) babies are at the doctors quite frequently to ensure that they are growing at a healthy rate. It’s also critically important to be able for medical professionals to identify any emerging developmental needs. We need children to go to the doctor sometimes more often than adults. More than half of our kids in Rhode Island are on Medicaid. So we are highly reliant on Medicaid and the access it provides in order to have healthy children.
The Urban Institute estimates that anywhere from 1,000 to 3,000 children in Rhode Island will lose their access to health insurance because of the new work-reporting requirements that are part of the federal [budget] package. This can also (lead to) parents losing health insurance. We know from research that if an adult doesn’t have health insurance, even if their child is eligible for it, their child is less likely to actually have health insurance coverage and also less likely to get medical attention. So we, of course, want children to remain covered and we want their parents to be covered because that’s what’s really important for the whole family’s health.
On how the state can prevent children from falling into poverty
Parks: There are some things that the state can do as we’re approaching this new legislative session. One of the things they can do is make sure our cash assistance program, which is called Rhode Island Works, is actually adequately providing enough supports so that it’s actually lifting children out of poverty. The child tax credit (is) something that we can start at the state level. We can increase our earned-income tax credits. Those are programs that are proven to lift children out of poverty. We can also, as a state, be committed to ensuring that all children, regardless of their immigration status, remain covered in health insurance and do the adequate work to ensure that our community partners who are working directly in the community have support so they’re able to let [families] know they are still eligible, help them get connected, that their kids are eligible. We need our state dollars to support SNAP and food security for our families. The state needs to continue the work around affordable housing, and of course, we should continue to support the Rhode Island Community Food Bank, which we know has been a huge access point for many families.
On the challenge of convincing state lawmakers to address child poverty
Parks: Our state’s in a budget crunch. There’s not going to be a lot of money available, and the state will have less federal support. There is hesitation around, “Can we afford to do this?” My response is, we can’t afford to not do this. Our children are 100% percent of our future, and if we do not make sure they are healthy and that they have the adequate food to grow, then we are just jeopardizing all of Rhode Island and all of our futures.
If the state does not do something, we will sink into more and more childhood poverty, and we know that children who live in poverty, especially at a young age, have worse outcomes as adults. So we need to do something now. Election year or not, I would expect all of our state leaders to make a strong commitment to our children living in poverty, and to the families who support them.
